Wood planks or concrete panels are often used as facing to retain ground excavations. The facing generally is connected to supports, such as soldier piles, driven or otherwise installed in the ground. However, standard precast concrete connections require that the soldier piles be accurately placed to a tolerance of .+-.1/2 inch. When driving or drilling pilings into the ground, it is difficult to install the pilings to this tolerance. Misalignment of the soldier piles can be compensated for by erecting a separate welded frame between the piles and the panels. However, the building of such a separate frame is expensive and difficult to construct to required tolerances.
One attempt to overcome the above problem is illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,068,656 and 3,155,206 to Booth and Booth et al., respectively. These patents disclose a system for providing vertical adjustment of a connection between soldier piles and a proposed wall of wood plank sheeting. Another way of compensating for some misalignment is to provide connecting members on both the soldier piles and panels which extend toward each other and overlap, such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,962.